Love You Dead

75 Tuesday 10 March

Jodie had been flat out since arriving home. Her first priority had been the creatures in her reptile room. Checking their automated water and food supplies and cleaning their vivariums. And checking the excretions.

She checked one snake in particular, her nine-foot boa constrictor. So far, nothing. It could be days yet.

Then she turned her focus to coping with the formalities of her deceased husband, about whom she knew so very little, other than the important stuff, to her, such as where he lived and how to get in. She’d visited his beachfront house, but she could find hardly any documentation there, other than a few banking details in his study, but she did locate his address book and took that home with her. She’d also made a very thorough inspection of his antiques and paintings, photographing some to see if she could find them on the internet to see what they were worth. Back home she also checked on Zoopla for the current value of the property.

Whilst in India she had informed Rowley’s eldest daughter of his unfortunate demise, explaining, to his daughter’s shock and dismay, about their marriage a few days earlier, and asked her to inform the rest of the family.

She found the name of Rowley’s family solicitor in the address book, and called him. He told her that he had already been informed, and had been asked by the Daily Telegraph to write his obituary. The man had sounded genuinely sad, as if he had lost not just a client but a dear and treasured friend. He’d told Jodie they should arrange to meet, and asked if in the meantime she could send him a copy of the death certificate. He added that their marriage had revoked the previous will and that her husband had actually died intestate. He explained what that meant to her and told her he would get back to her with more information. Then, in finishing, he told Jodie that whilst Rowley Carmichael was a very wealthy man, he had a decade ago made over a substantial part of his assets to his children and grandchildren, to mitigate inheritance tax and death duties.

She was still confident she would inherit a reasonable amount from Rowley, but it was unlikely to be anywhere near enough to fulfil her dreams. As she was still contemplating this, a lady, who introduced herself as Michelle Websdale, the Coroner’s Officer, had called her on the mobile number she had given the Goan police, to ask a series of questions.

So far, she felt, she had acquitted herself well as the suddenly bereaved newly-wed. In the past twenty-four hours she’d shed more tears than she could remember.

She had engaged a firm of funeral directors, whom she was going to meet later today to discuss the details of Rowley Carmichael’s funeral. His eldest daughter, a very frosty and haughty woman, said that her father had a fear of crematoriums, and wanted to be buried. Jodie had decided to ignore that. She’d read enough around the subject to know that buried bodies could be exhumed, sometimes years after burial. Cremation would be a much safer option. So, without informing any of the family in advance, she told the funeral directors that her husband’s express wish was to be cremated.

Screw his last wishes. She was going to have enough of a fight on her hands as it was. And hey, dead men didn’t complain, did they?